When I travelled on a really tight budget, after a few days of noodles, I would treat myself to tea and cake in the cosiest café I could find, or sometimes afternoon tea at the fanciest hotel in town. That tradition has stayed with me and I still love to spend an hour or two (or three) checking out the local sweet treats and watching the world go by. Cafe time is usually when I catch up on my travel journal too, so these travel rituals are inextricably linked.
Here are just a few of my favourites..
Afternoon tea in the Tiffin Room at Raffles Hotel – Singapore, July 1999. I packed a dress in my backpack just for this occasion. Twelve years later, I went back to Raffles with Mr T; this time we had Singapore Slings in the Long Bar. Both activities are highly recommended.
Zealong Tea Estate, Hamilton, February 2015
A tea plantation in New Zealand? The only tea plantation in New Zealand? With a tea-tasting ceremony followed by a tea-themed afternoon tea? Yes, please. A lot of pre-planning required to find our way to the estate and back – but we did it and it was amazing.
Fernsehturm, Berlin, 2018
It’s not just tea… sometimes it is brunch. This is rotating restaurant at the top of the TV tower, which has an epic Sunday brunch option once a month – we timed our trip to perfection.
Cake shops and cafes abound in the Victorian arcades in Melbourne – one of my very favourite places in the world for a tea break! We found the Hopetoun Tea Rooms in the Block Arcade following a walking tour map in 2011 (but it’s not there anymore).
27 Hours In Twizel 
One thought on “Always Take Time for Tea”